Fearless Pharma

It is disheartening, though not surprising, to read stories involving crooked behavior by pharma companies.

Feds: Novartis to pay more than $400M in penalties - Yahoo! Finance: "Federal prosecutors say drug maker Novartis AG will plead guilty to charges it marketed an epilepsy medicine for unapproved uses and pay more than $400 million in civil and criminal penalties.

In an announcement Thursday by prosecutors in Philadelphia, the company agreed to forfeit $185 million. It also will pay $237.5 million to resolve civil liabilities over off-label marketing of Trileptal and for paying kickbacks to health care providers in a bid to get them to prescribe that and other drugs.

The Swiss company is the world's third-biggest drug maker by revenue."